Boulders Beach is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

boulders, from which the name originated. It is located on the

Cape Peninsula The Cape Peninsula ( af, Kaapse Skiereiland) is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Ca ...

, in

Simon's Town Simon's Town ( af, Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern s ...

, a suburb of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 202 ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. It is also commonly known as Boulders Bay. It is a popular tourist spot because of a colony of

African penguin The African penguin (''Spheniscus demersus''), also known as Cape penguin or South African penguin, is a species of penguin confined to southern African waters. Like all extant penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings stiffe ...

s which settled there in 1982. Boulders Beach forms part of the

Table Mountain National Park Table Mountain National Park, previously known as the Cape Peninsula National Park, is a national park in Cape Town, South Africa, proclaimed on 29 May 1998, for the purpose of protecting the natural environment of the Table Mountain Chain, an ...

. These African penguins are only found on the coastlines of Southern Africa (South Africa &

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

). These penguins are currently on the verge of extinction. As a result, the penguins are under the protection of the Cape Nature Conservation. Although set in a residential area, it is one of the few sites where this vulnerable bird ('' Spheniscus demersus'') can be observed at close range, wandering freely in a protected natural environment. From just two breeding pairs in 1982, the penguin colony has grown to about 3000 birds in recent years. This is partly due to the prohibition of commercial pelagic trawling in False Bay, which has increased the supply of

sardines "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Ital ...

and

anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

, which form part of the penguins' diet. as well as the help from former

SANDF The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) comprises the armed forces of South Africa. The commander of the SANDF is appointed by the President of South Africa from one of the armed services. They are in turn accountable to the Ministe ...

naval officer, Van the Penguin Man Bordered mainly by indigenous bush above the high-water mark on the one side, and the clear water of False Bay on the other, the area comprises several small sheltered bays, partially enclosed by

boulders that are 540 million years old. The most popular recreational spot is Boulders Beach, but the penguins are best viewed from Foxy Beach, where newly constructed boardwalks take visitors to within a few metres of the birds. It is also a famous swimming beach, although people are restricted to beaches adjacent to the penguin colony.

Gallery

File:Welcome to Boulders (01).jpg, Welcome to Boulders File:Boulders Beach Entrance (01).jpg, Entrance, Kleintuin Road, Simon's Town File:Boulders Beach Visitor Center.jpg, Boulders Beach Visitor Centre File:Boulders Beach (01).jpg, Pathway File:Boulders Beach 2019 2.jpg,

s at Boulders Penguin Colony File:Playa de Boulders, Simon's Town, Sudáfrica, 2018-07-23, DD 47.jpg, Rocks in Boulder Beach File:Boulders Beach Penguin Colony 3.jpg, Penguin's Colony File:Bruthöhlen Brillenpinguin.jpg, Nesting burrows of the

African Penguin The African penguin (''Spheniscus demersus''), also known as Cape penguin or South African penguin, is a species of penguin confined to southern African waters. Like all extant penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings stiffe ...

File:Boulders-Beach.jpg, Swimmers enjoying the relatively calm waters of the sheltered beach next to the penguin colony File:Cape Dassie.jpg,

Dassie Hyraxes (), also called dassies, are small, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea. Hyraxes are well-furred, rotund animals with short tails. Typically, they measure between long and weigh between . They are superficially simila ...

at Boulders Beach File:Boulders Beach, South Africa.jpg, Boulders at the beach File:Boulders-Beach2.jpg, Boulders Beach with swimmers. In the background, the penguin colony and visitors can be seen File:Boulders-Beach4.jpg, Swimmers and a penguin at the beach. File:Penguin-at-boulders-beach-south-africa.jpg, Penguin, Boulders Beach

References

External links

Get to know the African Penguins at Boulders Beach
from {{Table Mountain National Park Beaches of South Africa Geography of Cape Town Tourist attractions in Cape Town Table Mountain National Park